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Monday, April 14, 2008

"If one were to look back at caste atrocities that have taken place inIndia since Independence, it will be clear that the major offenderswere the rich and landed members of the OBC community.

It is, however, not just the Dalits who are being sidelined by the OBC'creamy layer'. The poor Kurmis, Koeris and Yadavs lead lives nodifferent from the poor Scheduled Castes on a number of fronts. Theycannot dream of getting into IITs or IIMs as the OBC 'creamy layer'aspires to. For these poorer villagers getting to school is akin tomission impossible.."(by Prof Dipankar)

Thanks to the growth of internet, we have bold articles such as theone given here by Prof Dipankar of School of Social Sciences,Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi,which no member of the print media would be ready to publish.Such is the ominous grip of self-seeking political powerswho are out to rewrite the past to suit their whims.

The upper castes (read Brahmins) were never in the picture ofoppression of OBCs and dalits.The quota regime that is brought in to remedy the so-called oppressionby upper casteswhich saw a new leaf added to it the recent judgment clearing the deckfor reservation in IITs and IIMs did not and will not result in OBCswithdrawing the two tumbler system for the dalits in the remotevillages nor in allowing them to participate in temple festivals whichare under their domination. The upper castes had never been in thepicture of any such oppression.

jayasree.

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Dipankar notes: "From the start, Mandal's endeavour was designed toprotect what later came to known as the creamy layer. He managed thisby disproportionately allotting greater weight to social backwardnessand the least to economic backwardness. This is hard to believe, butthe manipulation was that blatant."

And, the Hon'ble SC has fallen into the trap of choosing betweeneconomic and social backwardness. Forcing this choice is the game of'casteist' politicking. It is unfortunate that the justice system hasfailed to take note of this political game. This game strikes at thevery foundations of the polity and the rule of law enshrining equalityof treatment while striving for abhyudayam (read: economicupliftment).

What is the problem in simply adopting economic backwardness as thecriterion? Shall we play jaalra in tune with the braying of the lawwhich is an ass?I don't know if the creamy layer has turned sour with the recent SCpronouncements, muddying the political cream.

Dr Kalyanaraman.

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The skimming of the creamy layer

Dipankar Gupta | April 14, 2008 | 15:23 IST

Now that the Supreme Court has skimmed the Other Backward Classes offits 'creamy layer', it has made it difficult for Mandal-fattenedpoliticians to lick their chops.

No matter how brave a front OBC caste activists may affect, they havelittle option but retreat to their chaupals where they can safely lettheir worry lines show. The truth is that every time one thinks of acommunity as 'backward', the first thing that comes to mind is theeconomic criterion. When this is almost always accompanied byeducational backwardness, then the reservation formula for the upwardmobility of a named category of the population gets its justification.If one were to take away, or undermine, the economic factor, then'backwardness' would have little meaning but a term of faint abuse.

But a majority of politicians are now claiming with a straight facethat social backwardness is the most important criterion fordetermining OBC status. When asked to define social backwardness, theycome up with criteria that are as easy to grip as a fish in water.This is best exemplified in Mandal's recommendations. From the start,Mandal's endeavour was designed to protect what later came to known asthe creamy layer. He managed this by disproportionately allottinggreater weight to social backwardness and the least to economicbackwardness. This is hard to believe, but the manipulation was thatblatant

In the strict Mandal scheme of things, if one scored high on thesocial backwardness criteria, then there was no need to go any furtherand bring in economic and educational considerations. Mandal had setaside 12 points for social backwardness whereas only 11 were needed tomake the grade. On the other hand, if one were poorer than a churchmouse, one could only score four points in all for economicbackwardness. That is how absurd the Mandal system for determiningbackwardness is and it is precisely this recipe that OBC activistswant to retain.

Social backwardness, Mandal-style, included features such as whatother castes think of a particular caste. It is common knowledge thatno true caste patriot would ever think well of any other caste. Thistrait, incidentally, goes down the so-called caste hierarchy withoutexception. Mandal also gave three full points if a caste said itperformed manual labour. Now every proud Jat, Gujar and Yadav,regardless of how much land their family might own, would gladly saythat they work with their big hands and are proud of it.Interestingly, included in the same bunch of criteria for socialbackwardness Mandal also gives a full three points if a certainpercentage of boys and girls of a particular caste get married beforethey have attained the legal age to do so. Full marks here foractually breaking the law!

OBC leaders, and their supporters in practically every party, wouldlike to retain Mandal's favouring of social backwardness in order todowngrade the significance of economic factors. If roles werereversed, and economic backwardness grabbed 12 points and socialbackwardness only four, then much of the motivations behindchampioning OBC reservations would be lost. This is why, the SupremeCourt judgment of the day should not be seen as a closed chapter.There is a lot of constitutional wrangling waiting to happen so thatthe creamy layer can somehow be admitted into the OBC category.

Unfortunately, many left-leaning, city-bred academics andintellectuals have aligned with the creamy layer and are against theSupreme Court's ruling on this matter. It is possible that they have aguilt complex that leads them to incline in this fashion. This mayalso be seen as a species of over-compensation as their own ideologyhas failed to make a difference thus

Additionally, most of these intellectuals also want to over-compensatefor their ignorance of live village affairs and take the easy optionof standing behind the loudest rural voice. They know little of thehardships that poor Dalits, and other economically depressed classes,face at the hands of the OBC 'creamy layer'.

There are two major factors that must be taken on board before weinsist on stirring in the 'creamy layer' into the OBC pot. First, thegreatest oppressors of the Scheduled Castes in the villages aremembers of the OBC 'creamy layer'.

This aspect has been documented time and again from the mouths andpens of Dalits. If one were to look back at caste atrocities that havetaken place in India since Independence, it will be clear that themajor offenders were the rich and landed members of the OBC community.

It is, however, not just the Dalits who are being sidelined by the OBC'creamy layer'. The poor Kurmis, Koeris and Yadavs lead lives nodifferent from the poor Scheduled Castes on a number of fronts. Theycannot dream of getting into IITs or IIMs as the OBC 'creamy layer'aspires to. For these poorer villagers getting to school is akin tomission impossible, so their sights are set much lower than those oftheir so-called representatives. It is interesting to notice that OBCleaders who are most upset about the 'creamy layer' restriction, havedone little to improve the educational or economic standards of theirown caste people, let alone those of Scheduled Castes. Quite clearly,they are a class apart and don't want mud from the village to be flungat their urban aspirations.

This is the reason why the founding figures of the Constitution madeit clear that any enabling legislation that gives a leg-up to sociallyand economically 'backward classes' cannot proceed on the basis ofcaste alone. They would be horrified at the way leading politicians ofthe day have sneaked in "caste" as a major determinant of OBC status.Therefore, now one has the term 'Backward Castes' which nobody dareinterrogate as it is so widely employed and has become part of ourpolitical vocabulary. This, however, does not make it constitutionallyacceptable and the latest Supreme Court judgment reiterates thispoint. Adoption papers may well be in political circulation tolegitimise the term 'Backward Castes' but its parentage will always bein question.

Dipankar Gupta is professor, School of Social Sciences, JawaharlalNehru University, New Delhi.